June KOM Challenge

[BenRidin]

From the Vertical Thread (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=421246) started last month, I thought it would be fun to put a one month challenge out there. Damnpoor gave it name, and it's on.

I think it would be fun to post your weekly results so everyone can see how good we're doing.

Those in training for Death Ride, Shasta Century, or Santa Cruz Challenge should have some serious elevation numbers.

Remember...be safe on the descents and it's always a great day to ride.

RB

[reidconti]

I'm at 10,264 feet :D

[ROJA]

I like this idea.

12.3k as of Sunday 6/15. (using Edge 305 w/ barometer and GPS)
178 miles

[reidconti]

btw I am very opposed to doing it as feet of climbing per mile, since I'm not gonna give up my (long, flat) bike commute just to have a better avg % :)

[uspspro]

meh... I just don't keep track of this stuff.

Besides the accuracy of all of our measuring devices varies quite a bit.

[spingineer]

meh... I just don't keep track of this stuff.

Besides the accuracy of all of our measuring devices varies quite a bit.

+1. I had 10,500 feet climbing, while others had 9,200 feet ... too much variance there.

[gw_12]

+1. I had 10,500 feet climbing, while others had 9,200 feet ... too much variance there.

Yep, last year I kept climbing stats using 2 devices and 4 tracking methods. My totals for the year varied by a bunch:

Garmin Edge 305 Displayed Data - 575,185 ft
Garmin Training Center ---------- 558,432 ft
Motionbased -------------------- 644,730 ft
Specialized/VDO ---------------- 541,679 ft

[RelevantCycling]

The Garmin uses barometric pressure, generally the most reliable though still subject to variability. However, riding with people with other Garmin devices they seem to be pretty close to each other. GTC and Motion-based both use different smoothing techniques. Motionbased is notoriously way off. GTC is probably pretty close - it is going to take out small rises that get counted on the actual device. i use Ascent and GTC (for back-up only, otherwise it sucks). 6,564 versus 6,474 for my ride Sunday - only 1.5% difference.

Nothing wrong with the challenge - I mean there is no actual prize money involved right?

[BenRidin]

Welp.

Utilizing GTC, my climbing stats for the week ending 06.07.08
is 12,579'. Today's ride from Auburn to Dutch Flat contributed over
half of that.

[rydaddy]

I finally did a little climbing. 3 Diablo climbs on Saturday. My elevation stats are all over the place though. I have a Garmin Forerunner 305.

Training Center says 12559'
Motion Based (corrrected with MB gravity) says 13464'
Looking at the elevation profile, it looks more like 10000'.

I'm not really sure why the first two are so much higher. Motion based seems to add up every little roller, even if it's a foot. I think Training Center is pure GPS, which has a lot of error in the vertical coordinates.

I'm curious, at what point is a small climb considered worthy to include in your elevation gain? How do the barometric devices distinguish this?

[uspspro]

I'm curious, at what point is a small climb considered worthy to include in your elevation gain?

For sites like motion based it probably depends upon the spatial resolution of the digital elevation model they are using. It's most likely 30 meter from USGS. Every time you pass on to a new cell on the grid, the elevation for that cell would be used.

At least that's how I think it works.

[Knubby]

I have approximately 6000 feet of climbing so far for June. I don't have a altimeter on my computer, but I map my ride out on Bikely. Just wondering how accurate is Bikely? I did an out and back on Carquinez Scenic Drive yesterday and according to Bikely, it was total climb of 4300'. It sure felt like a lot less. Can anyone verify this?

[gw_12]

For sites like motion based it probably depends upon the spatial resolution of the digital elevation model they are using. It's most likely 30 meter from USGS. Every time you pass on to a new cell on the grid, the elevation for that cell would be used.

At least that's how I think it works.

There is also the issue of surrounding terrain elevation (USGS) versus road elevation. Out here in the west, where many of the roads were built with the help of dynamite and bulldozers, the accumulated difference can be considerable.

[parity]

While I don't ride with my Edge 305 anymore. I've done the Sequoia (9,000 ft) & Sierra Century (12,000 ft) this month. That puts me unofficially at 21,000 ft so far. I'll probably be doing 3 or 4 more 8,000+ ft rides before the Death Ride. Not to mention some hill repeats on Montebello.

[RelevantCycling]

I finally did a little climbing. 3 Diablo climbs on Saturday. My elevation stats are all over the place though. I have a Garmin Forerunner 305.

Training Center says 12559'
Motion Based (corrrected with MB gravity) says 13464'
Looking at the elevation profile, it looks more like 10000'.

I'm not really sure why the first two are so much higher. Motion based seems to add up every little roller, even if it's a foot. I think Training Center is pure GPS, which has a lot of error in the vertical coordinates.

I'm curious, at what point is a small climb considered worthy to include in your elevation gain? How do the barometric devices distinguish this?

Motion based is just notoriously unreliable. I don't think any units do the correction in the unit itself. Barometric will just be more accurate. The smoothing all happens in the unit itself. I did 2 trips to the top of Diablo today, one from Southgate (Green valley School start) and one from North Gate (out to the traffic circle, plus the south ranger station to junction. My edge 305 showed about 8,150 ft., Ascent 7717 and GTC. 7700/

Not sure where you started, etc. but my route has the two climbs to the top at about 3,400 feet each.

I'm at 20,227 for the month, 194 miles.

[RelevantCycling]

And speaking of KOM - on my second climb to the summit of Diablo yesterday I had a guy blow by me going what I thought was damn fast. He looked like he was time trialing the climb, except he didn't seem to be straining too hard. Completely fresh on my fist climb I would have had 0.0 chance of staying on his wheel for any appreciable amount of time. We get to the top and I hear him talking to his friends that he did the climb in 50 minutes and if I heard right was targeting a 46 minute climb up Southgate. That is blazing fast and it was a pleasure to watch. If you were the guy in the Mapei jersey - hats off!

Aaron

[BlastRadius]

Does running elevation gain count? I ran 10miles yesterday, +1600ft.

[reidconti]

Sure, the only thing worse than running is running uphill. Give me a double century over a half-marathon ANY DAY.

[BenRidin]

Continuing on...

Utilizing GTC, my climbing stats for the week ending 06.14.08 is 24,409'.

BR

[gpelpel]

17,301' as of 6/14.

[jonathanb715]

From my Sigma altimeter (pretty consistent with Polars, usually reads about 10% less than friends with Garmins), I had 23,450 feet this week and 40,117 for the month.

JB

[rydaddy]

I'm a slacker compared to you guys. My only climbing has been the 3peat of Diablo, weekly mtb races with some climbing, and yesterday a 10 x Cantelow @ ~550' each. I have just one or two more days open for the rest of the month to get some more in before the Death Ride. Luckily, I am feeling pretty strong, and my new compact crack has arrived in the mail. :D

As of 6/17/08 - 22,300

[reidconti]

I broke 30k on Saturday morning, I thought I was doing well. Looks like I've got a ways to go if I hope to come anywhere near what jonathan is doing :)

[BenRidin]

Yikes!

As of 06.21.08, only 40k for the month. I have a feeling jonathonb715 is going to come in with some serious footies!

BR

[jonathanb715]

OK, it's a good thing speed doesn't count!

I added 20,357 feet this week (Sierra Rd felt like that much by itself), bringing me up to 60,474 feet for the month. However, my big climbing weeks are kind of done for the month now - I'll probably put in another 10,000 or so this week and then taper time.....

3 Mt. D. summits, Mt Hamilton, Sierra Rd, Calaveras (the hard way) - it was a good week.

JB

[spingineer]

I think we need a green jersey challenge ... flattest, all out sprints ... what is the flattest month you can attain? We'd have to think of some formula, to make sure you don't just do a short little 10 mile jaunt to the grocery store and back ... :p

[jonathanb715]

I think we need a green jersey challenge ... flattest, all out sprints ... what is the flattest month you can attain? We'd have to think of some formula, to make sure you don't just do a short little 10 mile jaunt to the grocery store and back ... :p

LOL - I'm going to be at the Jersey Shore for much of July (where I grew up) - the highest point above sea level is Mt. Mitchell at 236 feet! I can do that.

JB

[BenRidin]

My final tally for the month of June came in at 52,798'.

BR

[jonathanb715]

Despite all the smoke, I still managed to add 12,675 last week. That gets me to 73,149 for the month - and somehow I still don't feel ready! Taper, taper......

JB

[BenRidin]

Despite all the smoke, I still managed to add 12,675 last week. That gets me to 73,149 for the month - and somehow I still don't feel ready! Taper, taper......

JB

Nice Job!!

I'd say you're ready.

[reidconti]

54,851

I haven't been able to put in the long climbing days I've wanted to, I just get so effing bored on repeats. It makes it hard to feel confident that you can keep your energy up for 15k in one day.

But then again, I've done 200 miles when my longest training is 40 miles, so I just have to keep telling myself that it's just like that -- keep going all day and you'll be fine.

Good news is the 10k+ on Sequoia was no problem, and I've picked up a LOT of speed on the hills since then.

[cccorlew]

30,288 is what the Garmin says.
I got 300 a day commiting for 8 days, so add 2400, plus 1000 on a standard loop i didn't Garmin.

33,688 is about right.
My big days were the Sequoia and Giro de Peninsula. My Oregon Coast ride was amazingly flat.

[rydaddy]

Well, I haven't been doing much this month. I've been busy with other things and I'm still trying to dial in my bike for the Death Ride. I finally got to installing the compact crank today so I took her out for a spin at one of the meanest climbs around. Mix Canyon (http://daviswiki.org/Bicycle_Rides#head-fd7391b6720b809c7c41ed50cf63fdc87dac6b9d) is no joke!

I did this once (~2500') then I added a couple of Centelow repeats. Grand total for the month is a whopping 30k. Soon I will be doing half of that in a day! :lol:

[spingineer]

I wasn't specifically trying to be the KOM, but I still got in 40,503 feet during June. Not bad for someone not training for Kaiser or Death Ride.

[BenRidin]

I wasn't specifically trying to be the KOM, but I still got in 40,503 feet during June. Not bad for someone not training for Kaiser or Death Ride.

Not bad at all. Nicely done.

BR

[BlastRadius]

Bah. Only 28000 or so for me. I need more miles.

[spingineer]

Bah. Only 28000 or so for me. I need more miles.

The big difference is, you speed up those 28,000 feet. My 40,000 feet takes a loooooooooooong time.

[ericm979]

About 72k. I had to take a week off due to breaking a toe- my foot wouldn't fit into my cycling shoes. At least I got a solid 28k in last week. I'm going to have to do a lot of those for the next three months.